Adrian Miedema

A constructor that argued the “mistake of fact” due diligence defence was instead found to have made a “mistake of law” and was convicted of a charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act....more

A retail employee who helped pursue a shoplifter, in violation of the employer’s workplace violence policy, was not entitled to WSIB benefits and could sue the employer and a supervisor in the courts for her injury....more

An Ontario court has dismissed charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act after two incidents which the joint health and safety committee did not identify as posing a “high priority” safety concern....more

Rarely are senior corporate officials jailed for health and safety offences in Canada. But recently, two company directors of an importer and retailer of furniture and accessories, were jailed for 25 days after a worker died...more

Ministry of Labour managers have discretion as to whether to send out an inspector when an employer calls after-hours about a workplace accident, a recent decision suggests.
An MOL inspector filed a grievance under his...more

A new Ontario Bill will make employers liable for the WSIB costs of injured agency employees working for them.
Bill 18, which passed first reading on July 16, 2014, will amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to...more

A nurse’s trip over a cord has landed a hospital a $50,000 fine, where the joint health and safety committee had previously documented cord trips as a known hazard.
The nurse was administering medication to a patient. ...more

A Ministry of Labour inspector has ordered an Ontario school board to revise its workplace violence policy, and the Ontario Labour Relations Board has suspended that Order, calling it “unclear”....more

In sentencing an employer to a $115,000.00 fine in the case of a tragic workplace death, an Ontario Justice of the Peace has discussed the range of fines against employers convicted of charges under the Occupational Health...more

An Ontario employer has been fined $20,000 for failing to report an injury to the Ministry of Labour, showing that employers need to educate their managers about the types of injuries that must be reported under the...more

An Ontario supervisor has been jailed for 45 days after a worker fell off a roof and suffered permanent paralysis. Are courts growing increasingly comfortable jailing supervisors for serious safety violations?...more

An employer’s corrective action taken after an accident did not entitle it to a reduced fine under the Occupational Health and Safety Act because the action should have been taken – and was legally-required – before the...more

In what is still a relatively rare occurrence, an Ontario supervisor has been sent to jail for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker died. Lying to the police and Ministry of Labour inspector did...more

A worker who delayed reporting an alleged workplace accident has claimed that his employer discouraged employees from reporting, but the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal has rejected that claim. The...more

We are often asked whether post-accident fixes or improvements by an employer will be held against it if occupational health and safety charges are laid. For example, if an employer puts a guard on a machine after an employee...more

Occupational Health and Safety Act charges could proceed against an insolvent company even though it had obtained protection from its creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”), an Ontario judge has...more

A $200,000.00 fine was “manifestly unfit”, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled, in raising Metron Construction’s fine to $750,000 for criminal negligence after four workers died on Christmas Eve, 2009. The $200,000 fine...more

Supervisors and safety professionals have often told me that they fear being personally charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Now, a human rights tribunal has decided that an employee’s generalized anxiety...more

A supervisor’s violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act can ground a criminal negligence charge against him, an Ontario preliminary inquiry judge has decided, sending the criminal charges to trial. We reported on...more